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Everyone knows not to leave the house with a candle burning. Most people also assume that a candleholder will not melt and release a noxious cloud and cause $17,000+ in damage, especially one sold by such a fancy pants place like Restoration Hardware.

Such is the tale of Amy, presented inside.

An insurance investigation found that a skull-shaped candleholder, that Amy thought was made completely of glass, “contained a form of plastic that created noxious, toxic soot,” that quickly spread throughout her house.

Again, never leave the house with an open flame. But Restoration Hardware should be reprimanded for selling 1) A candle-holding product that is itself a fire hazard 2) a plastic candle-holder designed to deceive the customer by appearing to be made of glass.

Amy says the product name is “Skull candle holder.” It should be recalled. We can’t find it on Restoration Hardware’s website, perhaps it killed off too many customers last year.

Amy writes:

“Dear Restoration Hardware,

Approximately 2 years ago we purchased a set of decorative Halloween skull candle holders. We were unaware that they were plastic, as they had the feel, heft and look of glass. We used them each Halloween as part of our seasonal d

cor, and on Wednesday, October 18th, I took them out of a closet and lit votive candles in two of them.

The candles burned for about 30 minutes before I ran out to pick my son up from school and make a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items. I was gone approximately 30 minutes. When I returned home, my house was on fire. The smoke was so thick I was unable to gain entrance to the house, and immediately called 911. The dispatcher advised me not to return inside, but my boyfriend arrived before the firefighters and was able to put the fire out.”

“I have attached several pictures to illustrate the damage incurred. As you can see, the actual fire was minimal. The burn marks you see on the carpet is actually the candleholder melted into it. The other pictures are to show the issue of soot that has pervaded our home.

The biggest problem is the soot damage. This plastic candleholder created an extremely fine, ashy, greasy soot that has penetrated just about every part of our home (and our pets). Our insurance company has condemned various items such as our microwave, living room sofa set, notebook computer, clothing hung in closets, food, light fixtures, wallpaper, cooking utensils, etc. because of the soot.”

“Because of the damage, we have been confined to living in 3 rooms while a team of professional cleaners work through our home. Sometime next week the contractors will arrive and begin to repair and replace the damage to our home. I think it will take about 4-6 weeks before our home is fully livable again. We still don’t know the extent of the damage to our home. Each day brings more news on whether our items are still viable or are condemned. As of today, we have approximately $17,000 worth of damage, and the number will continue to climb.

I read on your website the following guarantee:

“General and Furniture Guarantee: Restoration Hardware strives to achieve the highest level of service in our industry. Our goal is to provide our customers with the best possible customer experience. To this point, if we make a mistake, we’ll fix it. You can expect nothing but the best in quality and service.”

I don’t know what Restoration Hardware can or would or should do in response to this. I feel deceived that there wasn’t any tag or label that stated this was a PLASTIC candleholder. I would never have purchased it if I had known it was NOT glass. Certainly, not making this information available to consumers was a mistake.”

“I was once a loyal and enthusiastic shopper at Restoration Hardware. I believed in the quality of your products. I was excited when you opened a store at Providence Place Mall, and even more excited when you opened your Outlet location in Wrentham, MA. However, my admiration and appreciation of Restoration Hardware is gone now. I don’t think I will ever purchase from Restoration Hardware again.